The crime of aggression and the International Criminal Court

10.1163/ej.9789004163089.i-1122.188

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Chapter Summary

In Article 5, paragraph 1 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the crime of aggression is listed as one of the four crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. As to the procedural issues, Article 5 (2) is not a great example of the drafters art. What exactly must be done to bring the provision on aggression into force is hotly debated. This chapter discusses this issue briefly. Conceptualising the crime of aggression faces some fundamental political challenges, given the rather unclear and untested limits to, and interplay between, the roles, under the United Nations Charter, of the Security Council, and other United Nations organs, in maintaining international peace and security. The chapter provides some of those issues, which fit the rubric conditions under which the Court shall exercise jurisdiction. It considers some basic definitional issues, including the relevance of the General Assemblys 1974 Definition of Aggression.